


The Velvet Ribbon

by Sapphiremoonlight1



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-29 00:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21146009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphiremoonlight1/pseuds/Sapphiremoonlight1
Summary: Naoki's excited for the Halloween season so, is the impish Ai. Poor Yusaku just wants his candy and to not have to deal with any of this.





	The Velvet Ribbon

It was the beginning October so Naoki was getting excited for Halloween to come. He had planned ahead of time to get in plenty of spooky and horrifying stories. The big flaw in his plan was the fact he is a complete scaredy cat though in his aspiration to more like his hero he would face his fears. After some consideration he decided he try his luck at asking his friend Yusaku to take part in his festive plans. Even if he knew he’d get rejected he would a least try. 

One day after school he finally gathered the courage to ask his friend if he would join him. Once he got out to the school gates he notice Yusaku in the presence of dark haired fellow that would have looked normal if not for a the choker wrapped around his neck in a nice bow. Naoki had seen him a few times by the gate waiting for Yusaku after school, said person usually looked mildly annoyed at the man’s appearance but otherwise nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for him though in his observations he missed his chance to ask his friend to join him. 

The same thing would happen for the next couple weeks. Every time he thought there would be a chance to talk to Yusaku, he would walk off with the strange fellow, everyday he notice the choker around the mans neck thinking it’s a odd style choice to possess. Naoki wasn’t one to judge someone else’s style so he just tried to ignore it. Not being able to get someone to join him on his horror journey he started off on his own. Those past couple weeks spent traversing through horror that was supposed to be child friendly because he though he’d work his way up to the more mature adult stuff by Halloween. Or at least he thought that, when he came across an old cd with a bunch of scary stories on it. Story after story caused him to want to stop especially when one made made he really believe he was slowing drowning in a sinking ship but he kept on until he came across the story of the velvet ribbon. It wasn’t all that frightening but he couldn’t get the image of Yusaku’s strange friend out of his head as the story went on. It was very strange to wear a choker the way they did everyday after all. By the end of the story he didn’t think the mans head would come off the same way the woman’s did but he was curious enough to go up to him after school the next day. 

The man or Ai as he insisted in being called was indeed strange and very much nothing like his dark appearance or association with Yusaku would suggest. He was a goof that actually was on Naoki’s side when it came to having Yusaku join Naoki in his Halloween activities calling the other a hermit that needed to get out more well flailing about dramatically. His insistence and nudging seemed to work too which surprised Naoki alot. The plan for the next day became meeting up after duel club to borrow the classroom for an hour. It was the most he could get from them as Yusaku seemed insistent on not letting Ai be alone in his apartment for long. He said things about baking, cleaning, and various other disasters and needing to make sure Ai didn’t burn the place down or something. The whole conversation though Yusaku hadn’t really seemed as closed off as he usually did during school hours. The strange man seemed to actually have a good impact on him. It made Naoki happy to see his friend also being happy for a change. The domestic disasters made him think of the woman in the story again. It didn’t help that up close he could see the texture of the ribbon around Ai’s neck. 

The other two people in the situation noticed him staring after awhile. He just smiled awkwardly and gave the man a compliment about it. Yusaku now grimacing dragged Ai away while he was in the middle of thanking him. It was strange since Ai was very different from the woman in the story. She was apparently the most charming cook and house keeper while Ai didn’t seem like that at all so the comparison was minor at best. 

That didn’t stop Naoki from blurting out his thoughts to Yusaku the next day. He had brought the cd with the story to school to show him. Yusaku just gave him a blank look and told him in the most monotone voice possible that Ai was just a weird goth that liked chokers and left it like that. 

Naoki’s imagination though wouldn’t stop and surprisingly a couple days after school he found Ai shouting at him to join Yusaku and himself for a bit. He wanted to invite Naoki over for a few hours over the weekend to watch some movies like normal people do. Ai’s arm rest at the moment seemed to disagree with the plan but didn’t say anything against it. 

So Naoki found himself at Yusaku’s apartment a couple days later with some candy he picked up from the store. Ai was the one to greet him at the door saying something about sending his partner away to pick up pizza for them to eat during the movie. It would of been fine were it not for the sly smile on his face awhile he showed Naoki around the small space. Once he finished his tour he excitedly grabbed his guest and dragged him to the couch chatting inanely about Yusaku. His guest could not see how his awkward cold friend got along with him. 

Part way through a rant about Yusaku’s apparent lack of a sense of fun gold eyes start to stare into Naoki making him a little uncomfortable. Ai sees his discomfort and just smiles pleasantly turning the conversation to what Naoki and Yusaku were doing a couple days ago. He starts to play with the ribbon around his neck before peering into his guest again. With a twisting smile he lets go of it and asks Naoki if he would like to see what’s really underneath. In his discomfort Naoki was working his way through the candy he bought causing him to be unable to respond with a chocolate bar in his mouth. Ai tells him his fears are all in his head before undoing the clasps of the choker under his hair. 

For a moment Naoki felt an unusual sense of relief until he saw his hosts eyes go wide and noticed a red line leaking out of his neck. Horrified he jumped up causing the couch to shift and Ai’s body to lifelessly fall over, his head hit the table and land straight up a few feet from his body. His face frozen in that shocked expression. Red liquid pouring out of both the now severed head and the body on the floor. Naoki was frozen for what felt like eternity watching the red stain slowly radiate out from the corpse. Then he heard the front door open and was brought back to himself. Yusaku and Ai walked into the apartment with a few bags of groceries. They’re guest completely confused and horrified just runs out of the apartment not hearing the yelling from Yusaku about the stains in his carpet and the dead soltis on the floor. 

Neither one showed up for school the first few days the following week. It isn’t till the end of it that Yusaku has the chance to try to apologize for Ai scaring the hell out of his classmate. Naoki just nods before trying run far away from him but a dark blur catches him before he can get far. Ai grabbed his arm and lead the kicking and screaming student to a bench nearby. Naoki knew Ai was alive but was so afraid of seeing the same thing again that he really didn’t want to be around him. Patiently Ai waited for him to calm down alittle bit before asking him to sit down with him. He explains to him how Yuskau told him about the cd and how he though it would be a nice prank to fit with the spooky season. He apologized over and over again before giving the other a sad look. He asked him again if he wanted to see what was really beneath the ribbon. The other was apprehensive about it but nodded in agreement. So he pulled off the ribbon revealing the glowing gem of a soltis. Ai tapped it with a melancholy expression before explaining how he pulled off what he did. Naoki was confused by this A.I.s abilities but it seemed to suit his friend so he told it he would give it another chance. The soltis gave him a pleading look before asked him not to tell other people about this or that he's a soltis before trying to lightening things up a bit. Naoki had his concerns but managed to keep them to himself for now, he'd ask his friend about it later. 

Ai just laughted abit before Yusaku came up to drag him away. trying to apologize again in the meantime. Midway down the street the A.I. turned back to Naoki and winked before yelling back to him that he should come by again sometime. The bench’s remaining occupant was left wondering if it really was an A.I. or if it was another joke before deciding not to involve them in Halloween plans again.

**Author's Note:**

> I misspelled Naoki until I looked it up to double check so there still might be some misspellings. Also not my favorite character but he worked well for this.  
The cd in this story is actually based on something a teacher of my would play occasionally ...it would scare me so much especially the sinking boat story and of course the green ribbon or velvet ribbon is a real short story that inspired this.  
This is also the first story i've posted anywhere in years so i hope its not too bad.


End file.
